Mystical individuals who are landlords of specific plots of land are called anchors. They are connected to the magic life force and fairies that live on that land and they often provide refuge to traveling caravans of families who come through. Frere-Jones Roeder is one of these anchors. As the caravans leave in the morning, she walks through the field and one of the fairies comes up to her with the face of her deceased lover, Haoquin. She relives a memory in which they had a light fight before swatting the fairy away. As the families leave, she gives them parting gifts of little stones and fireflies. However, the final caravan she sees is a battered one with a family of very skeptical individuals. They were recently attacked by another anchor and don't like Frere-Jones very much.

The oldest daughter, Alexnya, thanks her for the gift of strong wool--material to protect the children from harm. Her mother, Jun, and father, Takeshi don't like Frere-Jones. Their suspicions seem to die down as they leave.

That night, Frere-Jones sits in her home and does not go to the spring festivities the other anchors are hosting. The magical grains that exist on her land connect her with the living creatures that live there. She takes time to observe them but also gets drunk because she doesn't like the duty she has of being an anchor. Amidst her drunkenness, Frere-Jones goes to a podium with stone statues of her family members and touches the face of her late lover—considered her lifemate. She can almost feel his presence, but she knows that he is under the ground and dead. Suddenly she hears a loud knocking and goes to open the door.

The skeptical family returns because Alexnya seems to be in pain and very sick. Frere-Jones explains that the girl is infected with her grains and the parents become very mad with her. Grains are not supposed to infect day-fellows (those who travel in caravans). She gives medicine to Alexnya--medicine she was going to keep safe for her son, Colton (who also became a day-fellow) but never used. She explains that she will give Alexnya more medicine later and that it may hurt because the grains will reject the medicine. Frere-Jones goes out to find more medicine as Alexnya rests.

At the intersection between her land and another anchor's land, Frere-Jones washes herself in a river to get the scent of the day-fellows off of her. She walks into the land of her fellow anchor, Chakatie, who also happens to be the mother of her deceased lover. As she walks, she remembers her childhood and life.

When Frere-Jones' parents died, she took over the anchorship. She took on the role well and helped attacked caravans until one day, she realized she had hurt a young boy. She attacked the other anchors until Chakatie--a respected anchor--told them to stop. After everyone left, Chakatie sat with the attacked caravan and cried about those who had died. As a result, Frere-Jones refused to do what the grains asked but the grains insisted that she get married. Frere-Jones had difficulty finding a life-mate until Chakatie introduced her to her son, Haoquin. Haoquin had a hobby of creating weapons that were seen as illegal to the other anchors. He also liked playing pranks on them. He believed in change and straying from the ordinary, to which Frere-Jones fell in love with. When Haoquin moved into her land, his grains did not like the grains of her land. For awhile, they seemed to cooperate with each other. But when Colton was very young, Haoquin's grains totally rejected the new grains and he died.

Frere-Jones finally arrives at Chakatie's home and sees that there is an orgy happening. She asks Chakatie for medicine and initially Chakatie thinks she wants to kill herself. She explains that there is a new potential anchor that she wants to heal and Chakatie gives it to her. She remembers when Haoquin used to talk about how he loved his mother, but that she shouldn't be trusted because she will betray anyone for power.

When Frere-Jones returns and gives Alexnya the medicine, Alexnya calls Frere-Jones by the nickname Haoquin once called her--Fre. This surprises her at first but everyone seems to be happy that Alexnya is healed. Frere-Jones hates that Alexnya has the memories of her late lover and isolates herself to the outdoors that night to protect the girl from her own wrath. In the morning, she is invited to breakfast by Jun. As the family leaves, Alexnya stays behind and places her hand on the stone podium. They realize the grains have been lying to her saying that her family is supposed to stay on the land. Frere-Jones had always hated the grains, but Alexnya accepted them so the grains connected to her. She remembers the fierce protective nature Haoquin once had and the hatred he had for the grains.

In the night, several anchors came for the family and for Frere-Jones. She tried to explain that she would get the family to leave but the anchors did not believe her and laughed. However, as the anchors came, Frere-Jones took the illegal weapon of a laser pistol (that Haoquin made early in their relationship) to the roof. She burned all of the grains in her land and shot every anchor that came near her home.

Eventually, Chakatie arrived to the scene. She wears simple clothing to show Frere-Jones that she means no harm--advised by her children and her son that spied on Frere-Jones earlier that day. Frere-Jones explains that Alexnya may be a good anchor, but that she may not ever trust the grains. Frere-Jones thinks about burning Chakatie but Chakatie explains that her numerous children would hunt her down if she did.

The two reminisce on the death of her lover as they bury the dead anchors. As the grains begin to disappear, she remembers Haoquin and how much she loved him. Then Chakatie shoots her with the laser pistol.

Alexnya stands over the deceased body of Frere-Jones and watches as Chakatie breaks the laser pistol. She finds difficulty trusting Chakatie, but eventually does because Chakatie once cried over day-fellows who died in an anchor's attack. Alexnya eventually returns to the house to spend time with her family before they are forced to leave.